Mykki Blanco

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Notable

American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist, whose debut album, Mykki, was released on 16 September 2016. Quattlebaum's persona Mykki Blanco began as a teenage girl character for a YouTube video in 2010, but evolved into a musical and performance art piece. Blanco's name is inspired by Lil' Kim's alter ego Kimmy Blanco. Blanco has been called one of hip hop's queer pioneers; although he struggles to identify with the label of "gay rap" or "queer rap," he has begrudgingly "accepted it." Blanco also disagrees with those who portray him as a drag artist, saying "You can't tag me as the rapping transvestite. I never vogued in my life. I'm from a punk and Riot Grrrl background." Blanco is self-described as transgender and multi-gendered. Mykki Blanco at first considered undergoing transitional therapy, either Sex Reassignment Surgery and/or Hormone Replacement Therapy, but later decided that such treatment wouldn't solve his problems with gender and dysphoria, and rather would not engage with racist and patriarchal conceptions of race, gender, and sex. Blanco used a variety of pronouns for similar reasons, earlier on only using she/her/hers but later decided that these pronouns failed to articulate her persona and artistry. Quattlebaum's book of poetry, From the Silence of Duchamp to the Noise of Boys, was published on OHWOW's imprint on 17 June 2011. In 2012, Blanco made his debut with Mykki Blanco & the Mutant Angels EP. Then in November 2012, Blanco released the mixtape Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss. The mixtape was produced by Brenmar, Flosstradamus, Gobby, Le1f, Matrixxman, and Sinden. In 2013, Blanco dropped his second EP Betty Rubble: The Initiation. May 2014 saw the release of the Spring/Summer 2014 EP, followed by his second mixtape Gay Dog Food in October. Link to Wikipedia biography